Hip Hop, Masculinity in

Christa Ward

As a cultural art form, hip hop music burst on the scene in the late 1970s. This unique style of culture and music, which incorporates all forms of rap, became a venue for artists living in urban areas to brag and, more important, to highlight the serious social and economic conditions affecting those living in the low-income areas of America. Since its inception, many researchers have argued that hip hop is predominantly the voice of African American males. Although many white hip hop artists, such as Eminem, have had a profound impact on the genre, and although hip hop fans span the ethnic divide, the most prominent images of hip hop artists are of African American males. Recent research involving African American and white males argues that males tend to see hip hop as a masculine genre. Fiona Mills's in-depth study on masculinity and rap suggests that rap's hard-core image ...

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